President Bush received the first progress report from a joint
U.S.-Russia working group he established with President Putin in
Bratislava to improve nuclear security cooperation to deal with one of
the gravest threats we face- the danger that terrorists could gain
access to nuclear material or weapons.

Since that time, the U.S.-Russia Senior Interagency Working Group on
Nuclear Security Cooperation, co-chaired by Secretary of Energy Bodman
and Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Rumyantsev has examined ways
to advance cooperation in five areas: (1) emergency response, (2) best
practices, (3) security culture, (4) conversion of research reactors,
and (5) nuclear security.

The report notes that the United and Russia have agreed to:

Prioritized timelines to return fresh and spent highly-enriched
uranium fuel from U.S.- and Russian-designed research reactors in third
countries, and to convert these reactors to low-enriched uranium and to
develop other alternative fuels;

Developed a Joint Action Plan for security upgrades at Rosatom
and Ministry of Defense facilities;

Conduct bilateral workshops on sharing "best practices" and
establishment of a "security culture" in September 2005;

Undertake a tabletop exercise on emergency response to nuclear
incidents in October 2005.